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Enjoying and dealing with the ups and downs of life in rural Maine.

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What do I know?

OK, so I checked the bees today, mainly interested in hive #2 but I stopped at #1 first- popped the covers, workers in the new deep. Didn't take it off or remove any frames. Cover back on, watched the entrance for a bit, then looked in (I removed the entrance reducers last check)- bunches of bees mounded at bottoms of lower frames...queen/swarm cells? Hellifiknow, can't tell, don't have time to rip them out and look. It was sunny when I started out into the field but now some nasty looking clouds are rolling in.

On to #2- a few bees in the top deep, took it off and put it aside. seems to be a good amount of bees in the lower, more than before? Dunno, but some are smaller and black & whitish as opposed to black & yellow, looks like some carniolans *have* hatched.

They didn't seem to be as 'angry' today, not really flying at me except when [I think] I accidently squashed one.

Pulled one frame from the east side and took it out, then started looking at the rest, working westward. Looks like they are starting to draw out comb in the frames. Got to the center and looked for the queen cells on the older frames (from the nuc). Where'd they go? Maybe they weren't where I thought they were. finally found the frame with the cell at the bottom, it was open and one of the bees had its head in there. Doing what? Is that a good sign? Dunno.

Didn't see the other cell that I thought was on the side of one of the frames, maybe it was covered with bees? Dunno. Saw a bunch of cells that looked empty, no eggs, no larvae.

All of a sudden, I hear little taps on my hood, sounds like bees attacking, lots of them. I look up from the frame I am staring intently and ignorantly at but I don't see a bunch of bees around my head. Oh, crap. Look up at the sky. Ayuh, them big black clouds are starting to open. Quick, get all the frames back into place while trying not to squish any more bees and get them all closed up before it pours. By the time I get back to the house, the sun is shining again.

So, what do I know? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Not a damn thing...except that I'm a little nervous because I don't know anything. I mean, crap, I've got all my savings in this project (that I scrimped and saved and went without breakfasts & lunches and robbed from the house/firewood money to get) and I don't know nothing except that I've still got some bees...so far.

Oh, wait, I do know *one* thing. If you've loaded your smoker with pellet fuel, *don't* shake it to see how much might be left. Burning pellets will come out of the air vent hole and start little fires all over the place. Yeah, loads of fun.